As far as I know, coefficient points are not divided by number of games played. So even if Celtic were beaten five times and drew one game, that would be better for our coefficient than if they'd never have got back in.
you're absolutely right of course. but even if hoops get through their group the extra points provide less good than the shock of being out of europe hopefully could have. of course not every alcoholic who hits rock bottom admits he has a problem and starts his 12 steps... and my unconsidered and uninformed opinion is that alcohol is indeed part of the problem. i don't mean to hold up france as the best example, but walk through the neighborhoods of any french town big or small and you see huge numbers of kids (and plenty who are not kids) playing football... to be precise FIT kids playing GOOD football. visit holland, italy or germany and the picture is similar. my recent experience of scotland is limited to two two-week vacations in the last few years but the stereotype i come away with is that scotch youngsters are too often little tubs of lard and the adolescents are more interested in dribbling special brew down their shirts than footballs down the field. i saw installations where in france you'd see four teams going hard at 5-a-side, with 2 or 3 other groups waiting on the sidelines to play the winners... and there would only be 2 or 3 chubby little things wheezing after a ball. the problem doesn't end there. paul le guen got run out of glasgow on a rail for different reasons, but the main one is perhaps that he expected his players to stop boozing and stay fit. something every coach on the continent, amateur or pro, youth or over-40, male or female, takes for granted. i don't mean to start a fight: i'm only giving a gratuitous opinion based on scanty anecdotal experience and it's likely i'm dead wrong. but what do you think? one thing's dead sure: a country of only 5 million souls can ill afford to lose sporting raw material to deep fried mars bars.
Paul Le Guen was chased out of Scotland because he was an awful manager. Also, there's lots of things wrong with the Scotland set-up. I can only hope that Mark Wotte will re-invent it, such as what Dick Advocaat did at Rangers with Murray Park.
The lack of physicality or fitness certainly isn't an issue for Scottish footballers. And I don't believe it's mainly down to the social etiquette of Scottish youngsters either. My friend coaches under 14's and his brother coaches under 16 girls so I get to see a reasonable amount of youngsters kicking the ball around and there's no shortage of passion or, to an extent, skill. And there are plenty of kids playing the game still in this country. I still think our downward spiral is linked to poor coaching and the fear factor that dominates our game. Now if you'll excuse me my 3rd bottle of Highland Park is winking at me and I can't ignore it any longer...